Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea)
Golden Alexanders is an important plant to have in your garden. It has long-lasting, bright yellow blooms, giving the garden some early color in late spring to early summer when many other plants have not yet flowered. It is a host plant for the Black Swallowtail butterfly and a host plant for the specialist mining bee Andrena ziziae (Holm, 2014). This plant is important to a number of short-tongued bees because they are able to easily reach the nectar in the small yellow flowers (illinoisewildflower.info). It is also listed as a preferred pollinator plant by the Xerces Society (Xerces.org). Golden Alexanders will tolerate a fair amount of shade but prefer full sun or light shade. It is a short-lived plant but will happily self-seed and persist in many sun/soil situations.
Photo credit: Doug McGrady (1), John Blair (2)
Golden Alexanders is an important plant to have in your garden. It has long-lasting, bright yellow blooms, giving the garden some early color in late spring to early summer when many other plants have not yet flowered. It is a host plant for the Black Swallowtail butterfly and a host plant for the specialist mining bee Andrena ziziae (Holm, 2014). This plant is important to a number of short-tongued bees because they are able to easily reach the nectar in the small yellow flowers (illinoisewildflower.info). It is also listed as a preferred pollinator plant by the Xerces Society (Xerces.org). Golden Alexanders will tolerate a fair amount of shade but prefer full sun or light shade. It is a short-lived plant but will happily self-seed and persist in many sun/soil situations.
Photo credit: Doug McGrady (1), John Blair (2)
Golden Alexanders is an important plant to have in your garden. It has long-lasting, bright yellow blooms, giving the garden some early color in late spring to early summer when many other plants have not yet flowered. It is a host plant for the Black Swallowtail butterfly and a host plant for the specialist mining bee Andrena ziziae (Holm, 2014). This plant is important to a number of short-tongued bees because they are able to easily reach the nectar in the small yellow flowers (illinoisewildflower.info). It is also listed as a preferred pollinator plant by the Xerces Society (Xerces.org). Golden Alexanders will tolerate a fair amount of shade but prefer full sun or light shade. It is a short-lived plant but will happily self-seed and persist in many sun/soil situations.
Photo credit: Doug McGrady (1), John Blair (2)
Life Cycle: Perennial
Sun Exposure: Full to Partial sun
Soil Moisture: Medium-wet, medium, dry
Height: 3 feet
Plant Spacing 1-2 feet
Bloom Time: April- June
Bloom Color: Yellow
Advantages: Pollinator Favorite, Bird Favorite, Deer Resistant, Great landscaping plant
Host plant: Black Swallowtail, 3 other species of butterflies and moths use this as a caterpillar host plant in our area (nwf.org)
Specialist Bee: Mining bee Andrena ziziae (Holm, 2014)
Beneficial Insects: Ladybugs
Complementary Plants: Wild Lupine, Wild Geranium, Smooth Beard Tongue, Ohio Spiderwort
Resource: Holm, Heather. Pollinators of Native Plants: Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants. Pollination Press LLC, 2014
